The present invention relates to a conveying unit for the transfer of cigarettes en masse, and more exactly to the conveying units used typically to link a cigarette maker with a cigarette packer.
Conventionally, in conveying units of the type in question, the means by which the cigarettes are supported and conveyed consist in bands or belts combining to create at least one channel, or in at least one channel element equipped with a conveyor by which the cigarettes are advanced. In both cases the cigarettes are disposed horizontally and en masse along the channel, and made thus to advance continuously in a direction transverse to their longitudinal axes. The channel originates from the cigarette maker and extends along a path composed generally of horizontal and vertical stretches and bends, and sometimes inclines, leading ultimately into a hopper from which the cigarettes are fed to the packer.
One condition necessary for the correct operation of the conveying unit, and therefore of the system as a whole, is that the quantity of cigarettes occupying the channel at any one time will be such as to exclude the risk of a break in continuity at the infeed of the packer, while ensuring also that the orderly arrangement of the cigarettes is not disrupted, especially along the bends and descent stretches of the conveyor.
Another condition necessary for correct operation is that there will be no pressures within the mass of cigarettes flowing along the channel that might occasion a jam in the channel and/or cause damage to the cigarettes.
The object of the present invention is to provide a conveying unit unaffected by the aforementioned drawbacks.
The stated object is realized in a conveying unit for transferring a mass of cigarettes, comprising at least one feed channel embodied at least in part as a conveyor by which the mass of cigarettes is advanced along a predetermined path and in a given direction toward the infeed stage of a user unit.
To advantage, the conveying unit according to the present invention is embodied with at least one movable wall defining at least one section of the channel and compassed between two ends of which one is fixed and the other movable.